Massachusetts has a higher vaccination rate than Denmark. Why are students playing trumpets through surgical masks?
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It’s time for states with high vaccination rates to get back to normal.
Earlier this month, Danish health officials announced that Covid-19 is no longer “a socially critical disease” and lifted almost all restrictions, including a mask mandate for public transit.
More than 80% of people above the age of 12 in the Scandinavian country have had the two shots, leading the Danish government to declare as of midnight it no longer considers Covid-19 a “socially critical” disease.
Now, Norwegian health officials are moving in the same direction.
Last week the Ministry of Health and Social Care asked the NIPH to assess whether Covid-19 was still a dangerous disease.
While the NIPH has yet to return its findings, its assistant director has made it clear that the danger of Covid will be downgraded.
Covid could now be compared in severity with the likes of colds and flu because the vast majority of those at most risk of developing severe disease when infected are now fully vaccinated.
“This is because the vast majority of those at risk are protected,” Bukholm explained.
“And although the infection is still circulating, hospital numbers remain low. Thus, the coronavirus will not lead to a heavy burden on the health service. For those vaccinated who may become infected and develop symptoms, the vast majority will have mild cold-like symptoms.”
While some Americans might be surprised to learn this, San Francisco County and Massachusetts actually have higher vaccination rates than Denmark and Norway, two small Nordic countries where Covid-19 has been defanged with vaccines. To borrow the words of Norwegian Institute of Public Health Assistant Director Geir Bukholm: “We must look at the coronavirus as one of several respiratory diseases with seasonal variation.”
Why, then, are San Francisco toddlers still required to mask all day long at child care? San Francisco has vaccinated 79% of its population with at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
